Moscow, Kyiv exchange POWs after plane crash
MOSCOW/KYIV — Russia and Ukraine traded hundreds of prisoners of war on Wednesday, a week after Moscow said Kyiv had shot down a plane carrying captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The crash of a Russian military cargo plane near the border with Ukraine left 65 Ukrainian POWs dead, according to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said it was “obvious” Ukraine shot it down, and on Wednesday claimed Kyiv’s forces used a US Patriot system to do so.
“This has already been established by forensics,” Putin said in a televised appearance.
Russian investigators said on Thursday they had evidence showing that Ukraine’s military shot down the plane with US-made Patriot surface-to-air missiles.
Russia’s State Investigative Committee said in a statement that Ukrainian soldiers in the area of Lyptsi in the Kharkiv region had fired two missiles at the plane.
It published a short video showing investigators inspecting some of the 116 missile fragments on the ground in an unspecified location.
Ukraine did not immediately comment on the statement by the investigative committee.
Both Russia and Ukraine made announcements hailing the latest agreement on Wednesday to free more than 400 people captured during the conflict.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said 195 of its soldiers were freed, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said 207 people — both soldiers and civilians — had returned to Ukraine.
“Our people are back. 207 of them. We return them home no matter what,” Zelensky said on social media.
The exchange was brokered by the United Arab Emirates — which has played a role in several previous swaps — Moscow said.
Despite uncertainty remaining after the Russian plane crashed in the western Belgorod region on Jan 24, Wednesday’s exchange — which took place exactly a week after the plane crash — was the 50th swap between the two sides since the conflict, which began in February 2022.
Ukraine said over 3,000 POWs have now been returned. A similar number of Russians have also been freed, with most exchanges based on a one-for-one format, Agence France-Presse reported.
On the battlefield, both sides reported ongoing fights for territory across the sprawling front line.
Rumors also emerged that Ukraine’s top military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi would be sacked. Zelensky’s office and the Defense Ministry have denied the reports.
Meanwhile, the United Nations’ top court on Wednesday rejected large parts of a case filed by Kyiv alleging that Moscow bankrolled “separatist rebels” in the country’s east a decade ago and has discriminated against Crimea’s multiethnic community since 2014.
The International Court of Justice rejected Ukraine’s request for Moscow to pay reparations for attacks in eastern Ukraine blamed on pro-Russia Ukrainian militias.
Ukraine filed the lawsuit in 2017, accusing Russia of violating an anti-terrorism treaty by funding pro-Russian militias in Ukraine.
The 16-judge panel ordered Russia to investigate any plausible allegations of terrorism financing but turned down a request by Kyiv for reparations.
The court’s judgments are final and without appeal but it has no way to enforce its rulings.